The problem with plastic

The problem with plastic.

15April2019 by Kevin Dayhoff

I was chair of the Carroll County Environmental Affairs Advisory Board throughout much of the 1990s. I guess I fell out with plastic grocery bags a long time ago. Folks have asked, “Which is better for the environment: paper or plastic bags?” And the answer seems to be a mixed bag – no pun intended…

According to https://earth911.com/recycling-guide/how-to-recycle-plastic-bags/, “When it comes to production, paper bags require 2.2 times more energy and 4.7 times more water to manufacture than plastic bags. Paper bags are also nine times heavier, meaning they use more energy to transport.

“When it comes to disposal, both products are very easy to recycle, but paper bags are accepted in far more curbside programs. Paper bags are also an insignificant source of marine debris, and they biodegrade, unlike plastic.

“If you’re looking for the most eco-friendly alternative, bring your own reusable bags to the store. They take more resources to produce than paper or plastic, but they should each last five to 10 years.”

I am not in favor of the “nanny state” but I think that the issue of plastic grocery bag problems is only going to get worse… I watch Sky News on the computer. For the last several years, Sky News has been aggressively addressing the increasing problems with single use plastic. Enter the term, “Sky News - single use plastic,” in your favorite search engine and you will find quite a number of articles which eloquently address the growing problem.

For example, “Billions of pieces of plastic put on supermarket shelves ... - Sky News.” “Research commissioned by Sky Ocean Rescue shows six in 10 Britons think single-use plastic will be socially unacceptable by 2021….” Thursday 15 November 2018 07:50, UK https://news.sky.com/story/billions-of-pieces-of-plastic-put-on-supermarket-shelves-each-year-11554529

Recently, on February 28, 2019, the Carroll County Times Editorial Board weighed-in on the matter. (In full disclosure, I work for the Carroll County Times – or actually I work for the Baltimore Sun Media Group and I am currently assigned to the Carroll County Times.)

Editorial: What to do with plastic bags that Carroll isn’t recycling - https://www.carrollcountytimes.com/opinion/editorials/cc-op-editorial-plastic-bag-recycling-20190227-story.html

“Two of Carroll County’s municipalities, a private trash hauler and the county’s recycling manager recently reminded residents that plastic bags are no longer being accepted for recycling, a mandate that went into effect across the county last year.

“The reason? “Bags get tangled up into the machinery and they have to shut it down,” Recycling Manager Maria Myers told the Times earlier this week. The equipment is made to sort recyclables like aluminum cans, glass and plastic bottles, cardboard and newspapers, and a host of other acceptable recyclable items that can be found on at www.recyclecarroll.org.”

[…]

“So what should you do with plastic bags instead? For one, most grocery stores and large national retailers like Walmart and Target, which are the main sources of these bags accept them for recycling. To be clear, it’s not that the bags in question are impossible to recycle, it’s that Carroll County does not have the equipment to handle the recycling of these bags.”

[…]

I agree with the editorial board, “From the county’s standpoint, if it truly views plastic bags as a problem, the Board of County Commissioners could consider a ban on the bags, like ones that have been implemented in more than 300 jurisdictions across the U.S., including a few in Maryland. A countywide ban on any product seems unlikely any time soon, as recent discussions locally have focused on banning expanded polystyrene foam (more commonly, though incorrectly, referred to as Styrofoam) and haven’t gone anywhere…”

Read much more here: https://www.carrollcountytimes.com/opinion/editorials/cc-op-editorial-plastic-bag-recycling-20190227-story.html